The 12th annual Innovative-Arts Alive Classical Music Competition is about six weeks away, and that means the time now is just about right for young music students to decide if they want to take part – and to start getting ready if they do.
"Most competitors memorize their music," Arts Alive producer Rhoda Tillett says. "And some of them spend quite a bit of time rehearsing before an audience of some sort so that they feel comfortable playing in public."
This year, there will be competition in a new category, "duo/trio." The continuing categories are piano, other instruments and voice. Duos and trios may be a combination of any of the other categories.
Within each category, participants are judged in three age / skill levels – Junior (6 to 10 years of age), Intermediate (11 to 15 years of age) and Advanced (16 to 19 years of age). "There is some flexibility in this formula to take into account the number of years a youngster has been studying," Tillett notes.
The preliminary performances for this year's competition will be held at Island Center on St. Croix on Tuesday, April 3, and at Tillett Gardens on St. Thomas on Wednesday, April 4. The finalists will come together at Island Center on Sunday, April 8, to vie for a total of $5,000 in cash prizes, to be allocated at the judges' discretion.
A panel of three off-island professional musicians/music educators will judge both preliminaries and the final round.
Last year, 12 music teachers on St. Thomas and St. John and 10 on St. Croix oversaw the participation of their students. While most competitors over the years have had their entries submitted by their music teachers, "young amateur musicians are welcome to enter on their own," Tillett says.
Application forms are now available. There is an entry fee of $10. To request a form by postal mail, fax or e-mail and to obtain further information, call the Arts Alive office at 775-1929 or send an e-mail message to tillett@islands.vi.
All of the competitors in any given category and age group compete in succession. Each has up to five minutes to perform a work from the classical music repertoire. Voice and instrumental music performers must arrange for a piano accompanist; pre-recorded accompaniment is not permitted. For both the preliminaries and the final round, each judge will awards points for technique (40 points maximum), musicianship (35 maximum), stage presence (15 maximum) and memorization (10 maximum).
The first Classical Music Competition, held in Tillett Gardens in 1990, attracted 17 young musicians, performing in piano and voice. "Nowadays, the event typically attracts more than a hundred entries," Tillett says. Since 1994, preliminary judging has been held on St. Croix as well as St. Thomas, with the final round alternating year to year between Island Center and Tillett Gardens. From the start, Innovative/Vitelco has been the sole corporate sponsor.
